KOLKATA: All but one of the 30 Trinamool Congress legislators in the West Bengal Assembly have been together fined more than Rs.3.97 lakh for damages caused to property in unprecedented acts of vandalism committed inside the premises on November 30, 2006. Each of the 29 MLAs of the party present that day would have to pay Rs.13,704 as compensation for the loss suffered, Speaker H.A. Halim ruled on Monday.

Mr. Halim said that the MLAs had ransacked furniture and damaged fixtures both inside and outside the House after their party leader, Mamata Banerjee, had stepped into the premises complaining that she had been prevented by the police from proceeding to Singur, where she was to have organised a protest against the setting up of an automobile project.

The estimated loss to property did not include the antique value of the furniture damaged, Mr. Halim said later. Mr. Halim also rejected a privilege motion brought against Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for allegedly misleading the House on the Singur issue, particularly in reference to the land acquisition details for the upcoming Tata Motors' car manufacturing project there.

The motion, which had been moved by Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee on March 29, was rejected as the documents and photocopies submitted were incomplete and not appropriately authenticated, Mr. Halim ruled.

The two rulings sparked off noisy protests from the Trinamool Congress MLAs who stormed into the well, shouting slogans against the Speaker. Some of them strode up to the Chair when they were accosted by security personnel. The MLAs then trooped out of the House, after which Mr. Chatterjee criticised the manner in which the Speaker had rejected the motion on "false technical points."

The Trinamool Congress legislators had staged a walkout earlier in the day in protest against Mr. Halim's announcement then that he would be delivering the ruling on the privilege motion brought against the Chief Minister in the post-lunch session. The legislators, who demanded an immediate ruling on the motion, demonstrated in the lobby where they raised slogans against the Chief Minister and his Government for its role in the Nandigram police firing on March 14.

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